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Scribbled Note Leads Human Rights Extern to Discover Costa Rican Legal Hurdles
by Jessica Steele
Contributor/ 2L
Before my trip to Costa Rica, I traveled to 16 countries and lived in six of them. In my travels, I discovered that it is always best to go with an adventurous and easygoing attitude. This way, when things don’t go as planned, as they often don’t, I am still calm and enjoying myself and taking in the experience of another culture in a positive way. I always have to keep in the forefront of my mind that the beauty of other people is that they do not always do things the way I do—and I have to be prepared for that.
I had just completed my first year of law school when I went to Costa Rica on a UF study abroad program. The classes focused on environmental law, but I was more interested in human rights (which I learned that the two are more connected in other countries than they are in the U.S.). I had an externship at the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights.
I came to Costa Rica expecting language and culture differences to which I would have to adjust. I knew that I would be working totally in Spanish, which is not my first language. I have never used Spanish in a professional atmosphere and certainly do not have a legal vocabulary in Spanish. International differences in the fundamental set-up of the legal system, however, never crossed my mind as an expectation of the major hurdles I would face—primarily because, in all my travels, I have never once had to factor in "culture shock" in that area. I’m not sure how many lawyers ever get this kind of cross-cultural experience—to truly submerse oneself in a legal system completely different than your own—but, for me, being a few hundred miles from NexisLexis and the whole common law system was an amazing growing and learning experience in a new area of my life.
I wrote a paper on commercial sexual exploitation in Costa Rica. I had about a month to write the paper and with this adequately sufficient amount of time, although I knew that most of my research would be reading materials written in Spanish. I had high expectations for the paper, including wanting to do some interviews with lawyers in the human rights field, police officers and someone from the U.S. State Department who wrote the Trafficking in Persons Report.
Center for Governmental Responsibility and the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights
During the summer of 2008, the Levin College of Law’s Center for Governmental Responsibility (CGR) entered into an inter-institutional covenant with the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (IIDH). The IIDH is an international academic institution, created in 1980 under an agreement between the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Republic of Costa Rica. It is located in San Jose, Costa Rica, and is one of the most important world centers for teaching and academic research on human rights, with a multidisciplinary approach and emphasis on the problems of the Americas.
The CGR/IIDH covenant will promote the centers’ common visions of promoting respect for fundamental rights and liberties through joint activities that promote teaching, investigation, and diffusion of information about human rights. In addition to continuing the UF law student externship program already sponsored at IIDH, future activities may include visiting/exchange faculty programs, joint workshops or seminars, and expanded extern possibilities.
For more information about the CGR/IIDH covenant, please contact:
Joan D. Flocks
Director, Social Policy Division
Center for Governmental Responsibility
Levin College of Law
University of Florida
PO Box 117629
Gainesville, FL 32611-7629
phone: (352) 273-0837
email: flocks@law.ufl.edu
However, it took me so long just to find the most updated version of the penal code that my high hopes quickly diminished. I decided just to try my best and learn as much as I could. I was never able to find one single printed or internet version of the most current penal code. Since the penal code is constantly being updated, some articles are revised and some are not.
It wouldn’t have even occurred to me had it not been for the note scribbled in Spanish in the 2005 penal code that I had checked out from the law school library. The note was by an article dealing with sex with minors and the change of age for the lowest age range for the maximum penalty for the crime. The note said that in 2007 the age had been changed from 12 years old to 13 years old. That is where my search began—to try and find the new article.
When I finally pieced together (and learned what the Spanish verb sistematizar meant for the first time) what I believed to be the most current version of all of the applicable articles of the penal code to sex crimes, my next hurdle was discovering that Costa Rica’s legal traditions are based on civil law instead of common law.
In looking for the jurisprudence, one of the librarians directed me to the Sistema Costarricense de Información Juridica Web site. I had some trouble with the non-WestLaw manner of searching the Web page, but found a quick link to cases about sexual abuses against minors. Eight cases came up. It was a start, although three of these defendants were acquitted and I am not altogether sure what happened to a fourth defendant because the court deemed that the article in the penal code violated the Costa Rican constitution. However, all of the defendants got a sentence of four years in prison for each count—which is definitely the lower bound of the statutory prison requirement.
Altogether, this was an invaluable experience. Being able to get early hands-on exposure in the field of my anticipated career path in a way a class (in the U.S. and probably more within my comfort zone) would not have been able to give me. I would really encourage all my fellow students to apply for these types of externships and to take a chance and stretch themselves educationally and personally.
